UPSC website hacked: Doraemon image displayed on home page for hours before site was restored

The Union Public Service Commission's official website seemed to have come under attack by hackers, late on Monday night. The website was, however, restored within few hours.

The Union Public Service Commission's official website seemed to have come under attack by hackers, late on Monday night. The website was, however, restored within few hours.

UPSC, India's premium recruitment agency for various central government jobs, website displayed a picture of Doraemon, a popular character of Japanese Manga anime series. The message, "Doraemon Pick up the call," was scribbled across the image and the tune of the anime's Hindi rendition was played when one visited the website. "I M STEWPEED," a line under the picture of Doraemon read.

The commission's site reportedly remained down for a few hours after the attack, before it could be restored to its original state. There was no information available as to who hacked into the UPSC's website.

The hack prompted several Twitter users to tweet out screenshots of the website, while several others tagged Prime Minister's Office, Narendra Modi and Digital India to raise a complaint.

Meanwhile, this was not the first time that a government website was targetted by hackers. The Supreme Court of India's website was hacked earlier in April within an hour of the apex court's decision to dismiss pleas seeking an independent probe into the alleged mysterious death of special CBI judge BH Loya. The site had remained down for some time before it could be restored.

In the same month, the Ministry of Defence's website was also under attack from suspected Chinese hackers. Mandarin characters were appearing on the website homepage which translates to 'Zen'. The website was restored within a short span of time.